A raunchy photo of AKB48 idol Tomomi Kasai posing “hand bra” with a child providing the hands has led to Young Magazine withdrawing its latest issue from sale for being “inappropriate,” prompting accusations of “child pornography” and “child abuse” against her, AKB48 and the magazine itself.

An interesting editorial from Young Magazine, which is rather critical of the propensity of seiyuu to go into detail about their characters in interviews and similar, comes to my attention. Rendered into English:

They get on TV and talk all about their character’s feelings and background like they’re the original authors. Nobody says this, but when I see them do it I think “but you didn’t create the character, did you?” What I’m trying to say is that I’d like to see more of those seiyuu who behave like they’re being granted the privilege of playing a role.

Harsh indeed.
If all that was to a character lied in the hands of creators and directors, they could just voice them themselves and not bother other people with directing them. Instead, they are playing... More

ZippyDSMlee commented on April 1, 2009 01:48

Ok I just had to comment.... JP seiyuu tend to be "charatcer actors" as in they get a feel for the charatcer and be a medium for them.
Ego issues aside I'd rather have them... More